Memento Mori (The X-Files)

"Memento Mori"
The X-Files episode
Fox Mulder and Dana Scully at the hospital
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 14
Directed by	Rob Bowman
Written by	Chris Carter Vince Gilligan John Shiban Frank Spotnitz
Production code	4X15
Guest stars
Mitch Pileggi as Walter Skinner William B. Davis as Cigarette Smoking Man Sheila Larken as Margaret Scully David Lovgren as Kurt Crawford Tom Braidwood as Melvin Frohike Dean Haglund as Richard Langly Bruce Harwood as John Fitzgerald Byers Morris Panych as Gray-Haired Man Julie Bond as Real Estate Woman Sean Allen as Dr. Kevin Scanlon Gillian Barber as Penny Northern
Episode chronology
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"Memento Mori" is a 1997 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the fourteenth episode broadcast in the show's fourth season. In "Memento Mori" Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) confirms previous suspicions of cancer, leaving Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) to investigate the cause and how to save her.

Plot

Dana Scully finds out that she has a tumor between her sinus and cerebrum. She tells only Fox Mulder and her boss, Assistant Director Walter Skinner, of the news, and is determined to continue to work. Mulder and Scully head to Allentown, Pennsylvania to see Betsy Hagopian, who was discovered to be suffering from similar symptoms in the episode "Nisei". When they arrive they are told that Betsy has died, yet they find someone using her phone line. Tracing it, they track down Kurt Crawford, a fellow member of the MUFON network that Betsy belonged to. Crawford tells them that of the women Scully met a year earlier, all have died from cancer except for Penny Northern, who is in the hospital fighting the disease as they speak. Scully is skeptical of Mulder and Crawford's claims that a government conspiracy and her abduction are behind her illness.

Scully goes to see Penny Northern at the hospital, who tells her of treatment she is receiving from a Dr. Scanlon. Mulder discovers that all the abductees were childless but had been treated at a nearby fertility clinic. When Mulder is called away by Scully, Man in Black the Gray-Haired Man arrives and kills Crawford with a stiletto, revealing him to be an alien-human hybrid. After meeting Dr. Scanlon, Scully elects to begin treatment, which involves chemotherapy and heavy doses of radiation. During this time she starts keeping a diary of her thoughts. Mulder sneaks into the fertility clinic and finds another Kurt Crawford there. The two are able to hack into the clinic's computer database and find notes claiming Scully had been treated by the clinic. Mulder goes to see Skinner, wanting to deal with the Cigarette Smoking Man to save Scully, but Skinner convinces him not to do so.

Mulder recruits The Lone Gunmen (Byers, Frohike, and Langly) to help him break into the Lombard Research facility where he thinks he may be able to find more information on how to save Scully. Meanwhile Skinner tries to deal directly with the Cigarette Smoking Man for Scully's life, who tells him he'll get back to him. Mulder and Byers head into the Lombard Facility; when Mulder discovers that Dr. Scanlon works there he sends Byers away to warn Scully. Mulder continues through the facility, discovering several clones of Kurt Crawford working on clones of a young boy (previously seen in "Herrenvolk"). The clones show Mulder ova harvested from Scully during her abduction and tell him they're trying to save the abducted women's lives since they acted as their birth mothers. Mulder takes Scully's ova and leaves, being pursued by the Gray-Haired Man as he escapes. Mulder returns to the hospital to see Scully, who tells him that Penny has died. Meanwhile, Skinner and the Cigarette Smoking Man come to terms on their deal.^[1]

Production

The show's producers decided to give Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) cancer early in the fourth season. Chris Carter initially discussed giving Scully's mother cancer but decided to have Scully suffer from it instead. Carter felt it gave the show an interesting platform on which to discuss things such as faith, science, health care and a certain element of the paranormal.^[2]

Co-writer Frank Spotnitz said of the episode's origin, "Darin Morgan had left the show but was going to contribute an episode. And we realized at the eleventh hour that it wasn't going to happen, and we were stuck with nothing. John, Vince and I broke that story in maybe two days. We split up the acts, wrote it in probably another two days, and gave the crew something to prep before Christmas break. That was the worst ever." Chris ended up rewriting the script over the holiday.^[3] The initial cut ended up being too long, resulting in a scene introducing Scully's older brother, Bill Scully, Jr., being removed. The character would eventually make his first appearance in the fourth season finale "Gethsemane".^[4]

Reception

This episode earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.5, with a 17 share. It was viewed by 19.10 million people.^[5] This episode was submitted to the television academy to represent The X-Files in that year's Emmy Awards. Art Directors Graeme Murray and Gary Allen and set decorator Shirley Inget won the Emmy award for Best Art Direction in a series. Actress Gillian Anderson also won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama series for her work on this episode and the fourth season as a whole.^[6] Frank Spotnitz praised the episode, saying, "I think that was the best mythology episode we ever did. It's my favorite one."^[3]

Footnotes

1. ^ Meisler,Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. pp. 155–163. 
2. ^ Meisler,Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. p. 164. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Hurwitz, Matt, Knowles, Chris (2008). The Complete X-Files. Insight Editions. p. 109. 
4. ^ Meisler,Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. p. 165. 
5. ^ Meisler,Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. p. 298. 
6. ^ Meisler,Andy (1998). I Want to Believe: The Official Guide to the X-Files Volume 3. Harper Prism. p. 165,296. 

External links

• Memento Mori article at The X-Files wiki.